The Pirate King
by elysynos
Summary: The year is 1709, the Age of Piracy in the Caribbean. Treize Khushrenada, the Governor of Port Royal has declared a war on piracy, promoting Milliardo Peacecraft to Commodore in the King's Navy. This doesn't sit well at all with several pirate captains...
1. The Long Journey

Warnings, disclaimers, etc.

Firstly: This is a horribly AU fic. I mean blasphemously AU. I have picked up our beloved Gundam Pilots and dropped them not into another space fic, not a fantasy world resembling Middle Earth, but smack dab into the middle of history. Not just any history, but the adventurous, mysterious and downright ridiculous world of Caribbean pirates. No, NOT the Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy, the spectacularly wonderful Disney films, but a world highly similar to the one that Jack Sparrow, Will, Barbossa and Elizabeth sailed around in. That said, it is NOT a crossover fic.

Secondly: The usual rigmarole, the lovable, huggable characters of Gundam Wing DO NOT belong to me, they belong to Sunrise, Bandai etc. I have not stolen them, I am merely borrowing them for the purpose of this fic and promise to return them to their rightful owners in somewhat nearly the same condition as I stole borrowed them in.

Thirdly: This is not Yaoi. My apologies to rabid BoyLove fangirls everywhere. As much as I love the idea of bromance in my fandoms, I cannot bring myself to turn them gay. However, I am not opposed to yaoi in any way, my writings just don't include it. Don't let this turn you off , but if you opened this in the hopes of some hot n' heavy DuoxHeero action, or even WufeixZechs (wtf, weirdest pairing EVER) then this fic is not for you. But for those of you looking for a wildly irreverent fic full of high seas adventure, gratuitous amounts of rum, and general epicness, then perhaps, just maybe, this fic is for you.

Enjoy!

3,

Ash

_**The Pirate King**_

**I**

**The Long Journey**

Chang Wufei was a patient man.

It had taken him five years to earn the right to captain his own vessel.

Five years of training.

Five years of learning.

And finally it had paid off.

He had accepted the honour graciously. When he set foot on the deck of The Nataku five years prior he knew that it had been worth the wait.

Ten years he had spent learning to become the man he was today.

Ten years he had spent patiently awaiting becoming one of the most feared pirates in the South China Sea.

And for the past three years he had been incessantly hunting after the one man who threatened his honour and his position as chief captain of the Chang Clan.

His patience was beginning to wear thin.

No adversary had addled the Chinese man like that braided hellion who sailed the Caribbean. No enemy had tested his patience as much as that violet eyed bastard who called himself Death.

Yes indeed, Chang Wufei was growing more and more impatient as his beloved ship sailed westward from the Ivory Coast of the dark continent.

Duo Maxwell had averted him once again on the coast of Africa. Him and that damned black ship of his. As The Nataku sailed into Bonny Port on the west coast Wufei could sense that he had already missed The Reaper and her elusive captain.

A few gold coins were offered and he was assailed with information about the notorious pirate.

"'E was 'ere not a week nigh. 'Ad a look about 'im…'de devil walk wit de one wi' de braided hair," one toothless beggar-man on a dusty street told him.

"It's bout the time o year that he go back to the Indies," A drunken pirate said in a dark tavern corner, "shore'nuf you find 'im sailing westward."

Wufei had listened to these stories from Singapore to Cape Town. For three years he had sailed across the Pacific, Indian and Atlantic Oceans chasing the wraithlike being that was the Captain Duo Maxwell.

At the thought of the name Wufei spat. Duo Maxwell. The name sickened him.

Wufei tightened his grasp on the wooden railing of his Nataku and growled roughly into the night air.

"I'll catch up to you yet, Maxwell."


	2. The Captain's Sister

All Disclaimers for this story can be found in Chapter I. No more disclaimers at the beginning of the chapters. However, I may have a few fun notes here for my readers in the future.

Another relatively short chapter.

**Chapter II**

**The Captain's Sister**

"I refuse to go! You can't make me go!"

A loud crash echoed through the halls of the stately house, causing several of the servants to wince at the thought of what priceless artifact had been thrown against the stone walls.

"Relena, you're being unreasonable."

Milliardo Peacecraft brushed dust from the shattered Chinese vase off of the right shoulder of his Captain's uniform and aimed a stern glare at his sister.

Relena Peacecraft stood before her brother, barefooted and wearing nothing more than a thin white nightshift.

"Unreasonable? I believe that it's unreasonable that you expect me to parade around in those ridiculous dresses in front of your officers and the Governor himself in an attempt to find a proper suitor!"

She flipped her long golden hair over her shoulder and planted both fists on her hips, leveling her brother with an equally deadly gaze.

"Mother and Father sent you here for a reason, Relena. You nearly ruined the Peacecraft reputation in London; dashing off in the night doing God knows what. You're here to learn your place in society. You're a lady, and you need to start acting like one!"

The level of his voice rose in anger as he completed his statement.

"Mother and Father sent me here to this God awful island to punish me. What society is there here for me to learn from? I see nothing but sweaty sea men and peasant girls in expensive dresses masquerading as ladies."

"Oh you're an impossible little brat, you know that?" Milliardo hissed.

Relena merely smiled and crossed her arms over her breasts.

"I'll put you in that dress myself if I have to," he said. "Father paid good money to have it shipped here along with the other gowns. I will not have you waste his generosity."

"Oh, go throw them to the servant girls." Relena huffed, sticking her nose into the air. "Or maybe your 'lady' would like to have them?" She lilted her voice sarcastically as she said "lady", referencing Milliardo's fiancé Lucretzia Noin.

"She is more of a lady than you will _ever_ be!"

Milliardo stepped rapidly forward and grabbed his sister's wrist angrily, forcing Relena to turn as he strode into her room, dragging her unwillingly behind him.

"Now, get dressed, before you force me to do something drastic." He said.

Relena shot her brother one final glare of indignance before dropping her gaze and nodding her head slightly.

"I'll send Mary and Elizabeth in to assist you."

Milliardo turned swiftly and marched back out of the room, calling for Relena's two servant girls.

That little brat, he thought as he stormed out of Relena's quarters and into the hallway. I cannot believe how much trouble she has put me through the past few months.

Milliardo paused before a large gilded mirror hanging on the wall and inspected his appearance.

His long white-blonde hair was pulled back into a tight pony-tail at the nape of his neck. His face was dappled with sweat, a mixture of his angry confrontation with his sister and the blasted humidity of the Caribbean. Despite having lived in Port Royal for the past three years he was still unable to cope well with the heat.

He pulled a handkerchief from the sleeve of his uniform coat and dabbed his face with it gently.

Despite the sweat on his face and a tiny bit of dust that remained stubbornly on his jacket from the broken vase he looked well put together, reflecting what a Captain serving in the King's Royal Navy should be.

Milliardo sighed and descended the marble staircase that led to the ground floor of his mansion. Relena would be dressed shortly, and when she was they would have to hurry to get to the Governor's palace on time for the ball. In the meantime he would call for their carriage to be brought around.

He had a feeling it was going to be a very long night.

* * *

Relena stood looking out the window of her brother's mansion. From the house's position high above the port town she could see the ships sailing in and out of the harbour.

Damn him and his penchant for society and honour, she thought.

She had talked their parents into sending her to the prospering Caribbean island of Jamaica as a "punishment" four months prior after she had been caught sneaking back into her quarters in the wee hours of the morning.

Her mother had fainted straightaway when she had seen her daughter clad in boys' clothing and covered with dirt and soot.

Her father had merely turned and walked away.

The look she had seen in his eyes had hurt her more than anything ever had before.

Relena had explained after much questioning and a thorough paddling the following morning her reasons for being on the streets. She stood, her bottom still stinging smartly from the paddling, while her parents sat at tea in the drawing room of their London home.

She, Relena Peacecraft, daughter of one of the wealthiest merchant families in London, had been exploring the underground tunnels of the city with common street children.

Once again, Lady Peacecraft fainted on the couch, while a servant girl rushed to her side and began to fan her.

"Oh mother, must you be so dramatic?" Relena had quipped.

"Watch your tongue, girl!" Her father demanded.

Relena inhaled sharply and bit her lip to keep from throwing another retort back at her father. She loved the man dearly and hated seeing him so upset with her.

Once her mother had been revived once again, Relena's father, Lord Peacecraft, stood and walked up to his daughter.

Relena remembered his large, calloused hands grasping her shoulders and squeezing them firmly.

"I will have no daughter of mine frolicking around in the middle of the night with street rats. What if you had been caught, Relena? Even worse, what if you had been hurt, or killed?"

Relena looked up into her father's eyes and saw the fear and hurt that lay there.

"Father, I…" she began.

"Do not say another word. Ophelia," Lord Peacecraft turned to his wife, "It is high time we send Relena to school for finishing."

"No!" Relena jumped in before her mother could say a word. "Send me to Port Royal to live with Milliardo!"

Relena's father and mother both focused their gazes upon their daughter before turning and looking at each other.

"Milliardo is making a name for himself in the colonies, Henry." Ophelia stated, "And there's no trouble the girl could get into in the colonies. If anything Milliard's intended, Lady Noin, could teach her to be a proper lady."

Henry Peacecraft leveled his gaze upon his daughter once again.

"I'd be perfectly miserable there, father. You know how much I adore London. If anything I could live there with Milliard until I have learned my lesson, then I may return to London."

Slowly, Henry nodded.

"She would hate the humidity, wouldn't she, Ophelia?"

* * *

Relena frowned at the memory. She had hated lying to her father. She knew she would adore the Caribbean world her brother lived in. She knew she would love the heat, and the new, endless adventures that awaited her in the Colonies.

However, she had never dreamed her brother who had once been so carefree would have become such a prude in the past three years he had been stationed in Port Royal.

Instead of being able to explore the port town, and the jungles that surrounded her on the island, her brother had hired a gentleman to tutor her everyday in the maths and sciences and a woman came to teach her to play the violin and piano.

She enjoyed most being tutored in fencing, a skill her brother found necessary of a woman living in Port Royal. His own fiancé, Lucretzia Noin was skilled at the sword, a trait Relena believed Milliardo prized in her above anything else.

Relena blew a stray strand of hair out of her face.

Mary and Elizabeth had laced her into her corseted gown just moments earlier.

Relena admired the white silk gown, and ran her hands carefully over the intricate detailing of green and purple embroidery.

She would much rather be wearing a pair of breeches and a jacket, climbing the cliffs on the other side of the port.

She had escaped only a handful of times during her time in Port Royal, and the view from the top of those cliffs offered one of the best views of the sea she had found.

She had to be careful on those cliffs. It was also very easy to be spotted by anyone in the fortress on the other side of the bay.

Relena heard the familiar clacking of hooves on the cobblestones beneath her window. The carriage had arrived.

She turned from the window, gathered up her skirts, and made her way downstairs to meet her brother at the front door. She was not looking forward to the ball at the governor's mansion one little bit.

If there was anyone Relena Peacecraft was more annoyed by than her overprotective brother, it was Treize Khushrenada, the Governor of Port Royal.


	3. A Surprise Promotion

**Chapter III**

**A Surprise Promotion**

"Your hand m'lady?"

Relena extended her gloved hand to the bellhop standing at the base of the carriage stairs and allowed him to gently lead her from the carriage.

Despite how much she despised the Governor she could not help but stare in awe at the beauty of his mansion.

The white stone palace stood high above the town of Port Royal, overlooking everything that went on in the harbour. The sun was setting behind the house, over the island proper, and allowed the impressive candelabras and chandeliers inside to offer a welcoming glow to the arriving guests.

"Are you glad you came now, Relena?"

Milliardo walked up to her side and offered her his arm. Relena gingerly took it, and used her free right hand to bustle her skirts.

"I'm never glad about coming here." She said, "However, you look very handsome tonight, brother."

Indeed, her brother was a striking figure in his uniform. The dress jacket fit almost to his knees and was beautifully tailored with gold lapels and bronze buttons. The sleeves were thickly cuffed and buttoned, revealing his dress shirt cuffs beneath. The military epaulettes lay beautifully on his shoulders, showing his rank as Captain.

"As do you, Relena. Lovely and radiant as always."

Milliardo admired his sister's beautiful gown as he led her up the stairs and into the main hall of the Governor's home.

"Perhaps tonight you will find a young man deserving of a dance?"

"Perhaps," Relena said, her eyes wandering away from her brother and inspecting the faces in the crowd.

"Relena!"

Relena turned and smiled quickly as she saw the tall blonde girl making her way through the crowd of guests towards her.

"Dorothy!"

Relena let go of her brother's arm and embraced the taller girl fondly.

"I'll leave you two be, then." Milliardo said before turning to another officer and striking up a conversation.

"Come with me," Dorothy whispered, grasping Relena's small hand in her own and pulling her towards the stairs.

"Where are we going?" Relena asked as they climbed the sparkling marble staircase.

"Up to the balcony to get a better view of the harbour." Dorothy said, her eyes crinkling into a full smile.

Relena admired the blonde girl. She was the niece of Duke Dermail, a noble who lived in Kingston, Jamaica. Relena had met the girl for the first time at one of the balls Governor Khushrenada had entertained.

Dorothy was a good three inches taller than Relena, who stood about five feet, five inches tall. Her long blonde hair was done up in curls and framed her striking face. She was twenty-one years old, three years older than Relena as well.

The two had instantly been drawn to each other the first day they met. Relena had found her hiding behind the columns in the great hall, sipping on champagne and watching the crowd with her hawk-like eyes. She was the only person in the crowd who looked as bored as Relena had felt. The two had taken leave of the formalities of the ball and had escaped outside to the gardens where they talked late into the night of adventure.

Dorothy shared Relena's passion for escaping the dull life of the nobility and exploring the island.

The two girls reached the balcony and Dorothy sighed happily when she discovered it empty.

"Good, we have much to discuss!"

Dorothy placed her hands on the balcony and leaned far out over it, stretching her body towards the night-darkened bay.

"Oh, Relena, can you imagine what it would be like to sail out of that harbour on our own one day?"

Relena placed her elbows on the stone railing and placed her chin on her hands.

"Captains Catalonia and Peacecraft, sailing off to explore the Caribbean in the Good Ship…hmm..what would we call it, Dorothy?"

"Her, not it. Ships have souls, Relena. We'd name her when we got to know her."

Relena smiled. Dorothy was a skilled sailor. Her uncle had taught her himself, however, he would deny the fact in polite company.

"Have you been keeping up with your fencing practice?" Dorothy asked, changing the subject.

"Two hours a day, every day." Relena said.

"Excellent! We should spar tomorrow. I'm in Port Royal for two weeks, staying with the Governor and his wife until my Uncle returns from Hispaniola on his diplomatic trip."

"You're welcome to visit my brother's house anytime, Dorothy. I know we will enjoy your company. And I certainly look forward to sparring with you. I believe I have improved quite a bit since our last meeting." Relena smirked slightly at the older woman.

"We shall see." Dorothy waved her hand absentmindedly.

The two girls continued to chatter away as the string quartet struck up waltz after waltz below them. Nearly an hour had passed and they were contemplating rejoining the party, when Relena heard heavy footsteps coming from the hallway behind them.

"It may be my brother, coming to look for me. Hide!" Relena whispered harshly.

Dorothy and Relena quickly ducked behind the heavy draperies separating the balcony from the interior of the house

"This is no place to discuss this subject," a hushed male voice said as the footsteps halted.

"Agreed, come to my quarters." Answered another soft male voice.

Dorothy met Relena's eyes with a puzzled expression. The girls remained silent as the footsteps echoed down the hallway. A door opened and shut quietly and the hall fell silent.

"Alright, I must know!" Dorothy whispered.

"Dorothy, no. That was my brother and Governor Khushrenada. They must be discussing something important." Relena said.

"All the more reason for us to listen in! Relena, what if it's news of your brother's promotion?"

Relena's eyes lit up at the thought. There had been rumors going around for some time now about Milliardo's promotion within the Navy.

"Oh, alright." She said, allowing Dorothy to pull her quietly down the hallway towards the mahogany door that led to Treize Khushrenada's private quarters.

Relena slowly reached out and tried the bronze doorknob.

"Damn, it's locked."

"Budge over." Dorothy reached into her lavishly decorated hair and pulled two hairpins out. She hunched over the door and began jiggling the pins in the lock. A second later there was a telltale "click" and the door swung silently open.

"Where did you…"

"I'll explain that later, come on," Dorothy whispered.

They sneaked silently down the carpet-lined hallway. Dorothy following a faint trail of light that signaled which door Treize and Milliardo were behind. She paused before a door, motioning to the flickering lamplight that emitted from beneath.

Relena nodded, and the two girls leaned close to the door.

"It's becoming rampant, Milliardo. I refuse to allow it to continue any longer!" Treize Khushrenada's voice sounded harsh and angry.

"I understand your anger, Treize. But the French and the Spanish are having the same problems. The Navy is doing all we can to quell these raids."

"This issue goes deeper than you can understand. I am declaring a war on piracy. I intend to stop every single one of those bastard captains and hang them in a public trial!"

Dorothy's eyes widened in shock. Relena noticed this, but remained silent.

"Treize, my ships are constantly patrolling the waters around Jamaica and Hispaniola. We have had very few serious raids in the past three years since you insisted I come here. It would be nearly impossible for us to be sent on a hunt for pirates. They know these islands better than some of the natives. Hell, most of them are natives. You cannot possibly believe we could spare that much manpower and those many ships to go looking for all of these potential raiders, can you?"

"I do not believe, I insist. I command you to. As of this moment you are Commodore Peacecraft. I promote you for the duration of this war against piracy so that you are able to command all of the ships in the Caribbean fleet!"

Relena gasped openly and Dorothy clamped a firm hand over her mouth.

"Quiet, you fool. Do you want us to be caught?" She hissed.

"This is an honour, sir." Milliardo said. "I will proudly command the King's Navy."

"As I was hoping you would. Now. My first command to you is to bring me the Pirate King. I have a strong notion that if we take down the most powerful of the pirate captains then we will quell all fantastical notions that any sailor has in his head about continuing a life of piracy."

"We will begin preparations to sail first thing in the morning."

Dorothy grasped Relena's wrist once again and pulled her swiftly into an unlocked room next to Treize's office.

Seconds later the door to the office opened and the two men walked out.

"I trust no one more than you on this mission, Milliardo. Do not disappoint me." Treize said as the two men walked down the hallway and back towards the party.

Relena sat in the dark room in a daze. Her brother was being promoted to Commodore. Commodore Milliardo Peacecraft. However, her mind was swimming with everything else that had transpired between her brother and Treize Khushrenada.

Relena had grown up on stories of pirates. These stories her brother had told her were ones of adventure, daring and excitement. Relena's love for adventure had come straight from the stories she had been told as a child.

She had no qualms at all against the pirates. In fact, a very large part of her wanted to be a pirate. She was disappointed in Treize and her brother for wanting to carry out such a large war against these men who lived a life of adventure.

Relena turned and looked at Dorothy, who had moved to stand near the window overlooking the harbour. The woman's slender form was silhouetted against the moonlit sky.

"Dorothy, what is it?"

"I have to leave, Relena. I have to leave tonight and I need your help." Dorothy turned to face Relena.

Relena was shocked at the determined look that lay in her friend's light blue eyes.

"But Dorothy, your uncle…" Relena began.

"Hang him and hang Treize." Dorothy spat, her face growing red with anger. "I have to leave Port Royal tonight. I can do it with your help or without it, but it would be much easier with."

Relena needed only a moment to make her decision.

"What do you need me to do?"


	4. A MidNight Rendezvous

Apologies for the lateness of this chapter. I have no excuses and thus will not offer any.

To Gabi, karina and liafic, thank you for your reviews! It makes me happy to know that the GW fan base is still alive and kicking! I hope that I can continue to amuse you with this story. I have worked hard to keep the characters' personalities as close to the original canon as possible. However, I hope it's understandable that for the purpose of the story some characters that I absolutely love from the series may be warped slightly. This does not reflect on my opinion of them, but merely because I thought them best for the part.

I hope all of you will continue to read and enjoy! Feel free to interject your opinions, be they criticizing or not. I am always happy to hear constructive reviews and will value your comments.

This is perhaps the most exciting fan-fic I have ever written and I have no intentions of allowing it to fall by the wayside. There may be some lapses between updates here and there, but I intend to finish what I have begun. This is just too much fun to walk away from!

Enjoy the latest chapter!

With much love,

Ash

**Chapter IV**

**A Mid-Night Rendezvous**

The bells in the church tower rang out over Port Royal.

Relena lay in bed, counting each stroke of the bells.

"Twelve," she whispered out loud as the last chime faded into the night.

Dorothy had said she would arrive shortly after midnight.

Relena pushed the covers off of her legs and slid quietly out of bed, wincing as her bare feet touched the cold stone floor.

She had tried to calm her nerves ever since she and Dorothy had overheard her brother's secret conversation with the governor.

The carriage ride back to the Peacecraft house was a silent one. Relena had fought against her own mind throughout the duration of the trip.

She wanted to throw her arms around her brother and hug him in joy over his promotion. However, at the same time, she wanted to warn him of the dangers that he would most likely face. Ultimately, she wanted to berate him for taking on a mission that was silly and pointless.

Treize couldn't possibly believe that the Naval forces he had at his disposal in the Caribbean would be enough to wipe out the entirety of the pirate scourge that sailed those waters. Despite her young age Relena was acutely aware of this fact.

The legends of the notorious "Pirate King" were just that, legends. Stories she had heard from her childhood to the present. They were fictional accounts to strike the fancy of children, nothing more.

Pirates were a disorganized and selfish bunch, the lot of them. Relena could not imagine that any pirate would willingly follow the orders of a King, be he pirate or not.

Listening to her brother's stories after having fought in several pirate attacks she found the idea laughable. Milliardo had told her on numerous occasions of the mutinies that abounded in the world of pirates. A captain could not trust his own crew to obey his orders willingly. It was madness to believe that these cutthroat captains would bow to the will of an all-powerful pirate lord.

Thus, Relena found herself in a fierce inner struggle. She must not say anything that would alert Milliardo to her knowledge of his promotion.

Milliardo sat in silence, his mind fully focused on the events that had transpired earlier that evening.

Commodore. Commodore Milliardo Peacecraft.

He would be taking full control of the King's Royal Navy the following day.

Treize had informed him that there would be a simple, yet necessary ceremony to confirm his appointment. The people of Port Royal must be aware of the promotion.

Milliardo signed inwardly at the thought. He understood that the promotion was a temporary one. The title of Commodore was powerful in title only. It did give him full control over squadrons of men, however, once the "war" Treize so highly desired had come to an end, so would Milliardo's appointment.

This thought did not bother him in the slightest. What bothered Milliardo Peacecraft was the futility of the task that Treize had commanded of him.

He knew full well that the Pirate King was merely a myth. An amused smirk curled on his thin lips. Treize was chasing after ghosts. However, Milliardo dare not inform the older man of this fact.

He would do Treize's bidding. God knew it would do the colonies some good to rid the waters of the more dangerous pirates. He would track down one of the more notorious pirates and brand him as the elusive "king". Perhaps that would satiate Treize's thirst for blood.

Milliardo approved the idea in his head and turned to look at his younger sister. She had been awfully quiet throughout the end of the night. Now, she sat demurely on the seat beside him, he hands folded neatly in her lap and her eyes half-lidded.

Poor thing, she had probably worn herself tired dancing the night away with the eligible noblemen at the ball. Milliardo had high hopes that the son of Duke Walker would woo her, or perhaps Lord Otto Weatherby. The list of young, eligible men who were interested in Relena was extensive. His rebellious kid sister, however, was anything but intrigued by those young noblemen.

For the second time that night Milliardo Peacecraft sighed.

* * *

Relena hurried across the cold floor to her wardrobe. She had toyed with its construction shortly after her arrival in Port Royal. She had needed a place to safely hide her forbidden items.

She opened the mahogany doors and knelt onto the floor. Nimble fingers felt around the base of the wardrobe. She smiled as she found the catches she was looking for.

Relena pressed down with one hand and pulled gently with the other, raising a false bottom from the wardrobe. She laid it aside and reached once again into the true bottom of the wardrobe. A few short moments later she pulled a tightly wrapped bundle from the shadows.

Deftly she untied the bundle and shook loose a simple white cotton shirt with laces in the front, a pair of brown breeches, white stockings, and an oversized vest. She slipped out of her nightgown and tossed it into the bottom of the wardrobe.

Relena shivered as she dressed. Despite the warmth of the air outside, the stone floors of her brother's house chilled her bare feet. Gratefully, she pulled on her stockings and slipped the loose breeches over them.

The breeches' hem came just below her knee and firmly held the stockings up. She cinched the pants about her waist, tucking the shirt in as she moved towards a full-length mirror that hung on the wall.

She donned the oversized grey vest over the shirt and stopped to check her appearance in the mirror.

-So far, so good.

Relena had chosen the oversized clothing to disguise her feminine figure, and it certainly accomplished that. She looked like a young, impish boy.

-Now, for the hair.

Relena pulled her silken hair down from the intricate bun Elizabeth had knotted it into a short while earlier. With skilled fingers she brushed it out and pulled it back into a tight ponytail at the base of her neck. She grabbed a worn bit of string out of the left pocket of the vest and tied her hair in place.

There. Now I look like a real street boy, she thought, admiring her reflection in the moonlit mirror.

A soft tapping noise startled Relena momentarily. She whirled quickly and dropped to her knees beside her bed, concealing herself from the windows.

Again the tap tapping came from the center window.

Relena lifted her head slightly to peer over the top of her bed. She could see a figure outlined against the window. The moon was directly behind the person, hiding any details from Relena's sight.

She was wary of revealing herself to the figure until she was sure it was Dorothy. Before Relena could decide on her next course of action she heard a distinctive creak and watched as the window swung outward.

In silence the silhouetted figure eased around the open window and stepped onto the floor of Relena's chambers.

"Relena, get off the floor," the voice was barely a whisper, however Relena could hear the amusement in Dorothy's voice.

Relena raised herself up from behind her bed and narrowed her eyes at the tall shadow.

"You're late."


End file.
